Online services

With these services, your financial information, user names, and passwords are housed on the company's servers, not on your computer. Only one, Geezeo, also lets you manually input your user name and password and download OFX files.

The services we checked out are free to users; the companies make money through ads or by creating customized services for banks and brokerages. Most of those services aim for simplicity, allowing you to set up budgets only for those expenses that most concern you, such as entertainment or dining out. Here's our take:

Geezeo

Connects with 10,000-plus institutions.

This service caters to people who want to create specific financial goals and chat with other members about their progress. It's feature-rich, but the busy layout, including ads, is a bit off-putting. Geezeo doesn't include check numbers in your account statement, so you might have to go back to your bank statement to identify each one.

Bottom line

Worth trying for a snapshot of your finances and to chat with others about goals.

Mint

Connects with 7,500-plus institutions.

Mint is easy to use. It took just 10 minutes to set up three accounts. It's also intuitive in labeling downloaded transactions. However, you can't project future income or spending, nor can you input coming expenses, like checks that haven't cleared. The Web site automatically searches for better deposit account, loan, and other deals. Mint says that top picks aren't based on which products are advertised there.

Bottom line

Good for a snapshot of your spending but not the complete financial picture.

Quicken Online

Connects with 5,400-plus institutions.

This Quicken is simpler to use than the software version, though it's not as comprehensive. And you can't move your data from Quicken to Quicken Online-you have to start from scratch. Inputting new transactions seems faster than with the traditional version of Quicken. The RealBalance feature handily shows how much money you really have left to spend after accounting for yet-to-clear checks, as well as what you'll have next month after expenses and income. Quicken Online shares regular Quicken's extensive online and chat help.

Bottom line

The basic tools to track spending, budgeting, and cash flow.

Yodlee Money Center

Connects with 11,000-plus institutions.

Ad-free Yodlee makes it easier than the others to create a comprehensive budget; it displays a complete list of expenses and lets you remove what you don't want to track. It also lets you customize charts and graphs so, for example, you can leave out certain expenses or income sources. And Yodlee helps you balance your checkbook by showing you what your accounts will total after scheduled future transactions are processed.

Bottom line

The most comprehensive online program we tested.

This article appeared in Consumer Reports Money Adviser.